If you’ve ever spent 20 turns picking the wrong early-game memento and watched your world conquest dreams crumble when a rival culture snatches all the great works first, you know how impactful these small, permanent buffs are in Civ 7. Unlike one-time bonuses or building unlocks, mementos stick with your civilization for the entire game, so choosing poorly can set you back hundreds of turns even if you make zero other mistakes. This breakdown of the best Civilization 7 mementos will help you pick the right option for every playthrough, no matter what victory type you’re targeting.
How Mementos Work in Civ 7 (And Why They’re Non-Negotiable For Wins)
Mementos are permanent unlocks you earn by completing specific in-game milestones, from being the first civilization to research writing to conquering 3 enemy cities before the Classical era ends. You can only hold 5 mementos total per playthrough, so you can’t hoard every buff you earn, and swapping them out isn’t possible once you lock in your choice. That means every pick has long-term ripple effects on the rest of your run.
You’ll earn your first memento as early as the Ancient era, so you don’t have to wait until late game to start stacking useful buffs. A lot of new players skip over memento choices entirely to get back to city management, but even a common-tier memento can give you a bigger edge than building an extra early warrior or monument. I’ve had runs where picking the Harvester’s Amulet early let me grow my capital 30% faster than the nearest AI rival, putting me ahead on every stat before the Classical era even started.
Best Civilization 7 Mementos for All Playstyles
These picks work for every victory type, even if you pivot your strategy halfway through a run, so they’re safe choices if you’re not 100% sure what win you’re going for early on. I’ve tested all of these across 12+ playthroughs on Emperor difficulty, so I can confirm they hold up even against aggressive AI opponents that love to declare surprise wars.
- Scroll of First Writing: Earned by being the first civ to research Writing, this memento gives you a 15% boost to all great person point generation for the rest of the game. It’s perfect for every playstyle because even domination runs benefit from great generals and great engineers to rush wonder construction. The only catch is you have to beat every other civ to the Writing tech, so you’ll need to prioritize research over early expansion if you want to grab it.
- Conqueror’s Banner: Unlocked when you take 3 enemy cities before the end of the Classical era, this memento reduces unit maintenance costs by 20% and gives all melee units a +1 combat strength buff. If you’re doing a domination run it’s a no-brainer, but even peaceful players can use it to keep a strong defensive army without draining their gold reserves.
- Harvester’s Amulet: You get this by building 4 farms before the end of the Ancient era, and it gives a 10% boost to all food production in every city you own. Extra food means faster population growth, which means more workers for specialist slots, more production, and faster science and culture gains across the board. It’s one of the most consistent early-game picks you can make, no matter what your end goal is.
- Merchant’s Ledger: Earned by establishing 3 international trade routes before the Medieval era, this memento gives you +2 gold per trade route and a 10% discount on all building purchases. The extra gold can fund everything from unit upgrades to wonder rushes, and the discount on building purchases saves you hundreds of gold over the course of a full playthrough.
- Scholar’s Quill: Unlocked by being the first civ to research 3 Medieval era techs, it gives you a 10% boost to all science and culture output for the rest of the game. It’s ideal for science and culture wins, but even domination players can use the extra science to unlock better military tech faster than their rivals.
If you have the choice between one of these and a niche memento that only applies to a specific victory type, go with these universal picks 9 times out of 10. They scale with your civilization as you grow, so their value only increases the longer your run goes on, instead of becoming irrelevant after a few eras.
Mementos to Avoid (And When You Might Actually Use Them)
Not every memento is worth taking, even if it’s the only option you have available. If you’re hunting for the best Civilization 7 mementos, these low-tier picks should be at the very bottom of your priority list. In many cases, you’re better off skipping a bad memento and saving your slot for a better one you’ll unlock later, since you only get 5 total slots.
Never take the Religious Talisman unless you’re 100% committed to a religious victory. It gives a 15% boost to missionary and apostle strength, but it’s completely useless if you pivot to any other win type later, and it doesn’t give any passive benefit to your core civilization stats. The same goes for the Navigator’s Compass: it gives a 20% boost to naval unit movement speed, but it’s useless if you’re playing on a land-heavy map, and even on island maps, it’s less useful than the Conqueror’s Banner for naval domination runs.
That said, there are niche cases where these bad picks make sense. If you’re playing a modded game with a naval-only civilization, for example, the Navigator’s Compass might be a good pick if you don’t have any better options available. But for standard playthroughs, you’re better off leaving these slots empty until you unlock a higher value memento. A lot of new players don’t realize you can skip memento picks entirely, so they waste slots on low-value buffs that don’t help their core strategy. Don’t make that mistake.
How to Slot Mementos for Maximum Benefit Across Eras
Even if you pick all the best mementos available, you can still waste their potential if you slot them in the wrong order, or prioritize short-term buffs over long-term gains. Your first two memento slots should always be for early-game universal buffs, like the Harvester’s Amulet or Scroll of First Writing, because they’ll have the longest time to scale and benefit your civilization. Save your last two memento slots for late-game, victory-specific buffs that align with whatever win type you’re targeting by the Industrial era.
For example, if you’re going for a science win by that point, you can take mementos that boost space race project speed, or give extra science from specialist slots. If you’re going for a culture win, you can take mementos that boost tourism output from great works. You don’t need to fill all 5 slots by the mid-game. It’s better to leave a slot empty for 50 turns than to fill it with a buff that doesn’t help your end goal. I usually leave my 5th slot empty until the Atomic era, so I can pick a memento that directly speeds up my final win condition, instead of wasting it on a minor early-game buff that stops being useful by the Renaissance.
Another common mistake is picking duplicate buffs. If you already have a memento that gives +10% science, don’t pick another one that gives +10% science unless it’s the only option available. You’re better off picking a memento that gives a boost to gold or production instead, to cover gaps in your civilization’s stats. That way you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, and you can pivot if another civilization blocks your primary win condition.
At the end of the day, the best Civilization 7 mementos are the ones that align with your specific playstyle and win condition, not just the ones that rank highest on a generic tier list. Take time to read each memento’s buff carefully when you unlock it, and don’t be afraid to skip a pick if it doesn’t fit what you’re trying to do with your run. Even small buffs stacked across 4 or 5 mementos can be the difference between winning a game by turn 350 and struggling to catch up to the AI for 500 turns. Next time you start a new Civ 7 run, keep these tips in mind, and you’ll notice a huge difference in how smoothly your playthrough goes.